Studebaker Community Build...with a Meet & Greet in South Bend, IN?

[Chuck Most]

Well, hopefully there will be (another) Avanti in the works here shortly- I've got a few very untoward ideas in mind for one...

[Danno]

Not Danno, but that's gotta be drooping resin. The 1:1's were straight across the top. Still looks great, though.

Juha does a lot of master work for Airtrax, and he did the AAM master as well... wonder if those bodies are based off the same master?

Chuck's got it right ... the roof started sagging some time back.

I bought the body from AAM at my first GSL ~ "The Reunion" in 1997.

This model debuted at GSL in 1999 and appeared in that other magazine in 1999. No droop then.

I didn't take it to GSL in 2001 and regretted it, because Juha showed up with a factory stock build from the first generation of casts from his master. I thought it would have been cool to see the two of them on the table together.

I recently acquired some old magazines and stumbled upon the six page spread (March 2001) on Juha's conversion of an AMT '55 Chevy into the '56 Studebaker Commander master used to cast the AAM resin kit. Quite an accomplishment!

[Casey]

Well, hopefully there will be (another) Avanti in the works here shortly- I've got a few very untoward ideas in mind for one...

The more untoward the better.

I finally got around to sanding the filler I added to the underside of the body shell, and it will need another skim coat to make everything look smooth and even, but it's progress.

I assembled the turbine engine halves and sanded the seams a few weeks ago, after deciding to just stick with the kit engine:

[Casey]

One more skim coat, now sanded, but needing one more coat in a few areas. I think I'll hold off until I decide what to do in the corners, though. Eventually I will add a full belly pan which will tie the lower nose and tail sections together, but I need to decide on a few other things first:

I did some more sanding on the turbine engine, and attached the intake funnel and exhaust pipe(s), which will probably be changed to a more horizontal setup, but it's a starting point if nothing else. I won't be using all the adapters, brackets and reversing motor included with the Howmet kit, but I think a quick change rear of some sort will remain:

Here's a topside shot showing the turbine engine's size in relation to the body shell:

It should be a near perfect 150 pound counterweight, sitting to the left of the driver.

[Crazy Ed]

Yea! The Turbine engine is back in the build

[Casey]

Two nights of work in a row...I sense momentum.

I finally attached the rear (formerly front) valence panel to the body shell, widened it .030", and added a small filler strip to unite the forward edge with the trailing edges of the rear wheel arches, one of which needed some slight lengthening:

I wasn't crazy about how the lower half of the valence bulges out and downward, extending slightly below the quarter panels like so...:

...but once the bellypan was roughed in, it wasn't a problem:

Here are the approximate driver and engine positions, viewed from the top. This shot also gives you a good idea of how compact the turbine engine is:

I drew some lines on the body where the air induction scoop/duct was to go, but I'm not so sure I want to add it anymore. It looks like it would disrupt the visual flow of the body too much. Thoughts?:

[Casey]

I also mocked up some wheels and tires with the body shell. First up were some wheels and tires from an Ertl farm implement trailer of some sort:

Not bad for the front, but too short/small for the rear.

Next up were the Revell/Mickey Thompson Challenger I tires and some Revell Dodge Sidewinder frint inner wheel halves (a lucky fit), and in pic number three a combination of both:

The final stance will be very close to the lower pic above, as the Challenger I tires up front are way too tall. I like how the small and large tires fill out the wheel arches at the front and rear respectively, so these are the frontrunners for now. The Ertl tires caught my eye because they had no tread and looked to be approximately 18" or so. They are a little too lo-pro and maybe a bit too wide, too, but I can modify them to suit my needs:

[Austin T]

Pretty cool Casey,I'd go with the ertl wheels.The sidewinder ones look a little Donk-ish to me.

[Casey]

I updated a few things in post #1, and most importantly, there is now a final completion date-- Labor Day, Monday September 2nd, 2013...so don't slack off 'til June and have to cram to get your build finished.

Second, I would like to try to do the meet and greet In either September or October of 2013. Any input on this is welcomed, especially by those in the South Bend area, to make sure there aren't any major events in the area at the same time.

And last but not least, there will now be three prizes awarded.

Get building.

[Chuck Most]

Already managed to screw up Avanti body #1, probably to the point of not being repairable, but I should have plenty of time to manage something.

[Austin T]

Really wanting to jump into this build.Hopefully I can get an Avanti soon and build it up.

[Casey]

Wayne S. generously sent along a set of the Kurtis Kraft Indy Racer wheels/tires, but unfortunately, they're much too big, so I am sticking with the M/T Challenger 1 tires in the back, and making/casting some smaller diameter tires, based on a cut down Challenger 1 tire, for the front. Wayne also donated the quick change rearend from the Tony Nancy 22 Jr. dragster, so I got that assembled and will deal with the axle tube lengths when I get to that point. I sorted through some of the turbine engine's parts, got rid of a few I won't be using, and added a few odd bits from an old AMT kit which will add some detail to the engine. The exhaust tips were bored out, too:

One the front tires and wheels are finalized, I can start to set the final ride height and start building the chassis.

[Crazy Ed]

Yea! It's still alive. Hey Casey, for your intake you could just put a hole in the front that's the same as the engines intake. Simple and clean!

[Casey]

Why is this man smiling?

He just officially became the driver and got a name...but more on the name (much) later. His head will be swapped onto the body/driver Ed sent me, and since this driver's helmet is sans visor, I decided to add a canopy over the driver, instead of exposing his head from the nose up. The canopy is from an unknown jet kit, sanded down and tapered to conform to the body:

Once the hole in the body is opened up, allowing the driver's head and shoulders to protrude, the canopy will sit flush against the body, though I will need to remove some material from the inside edge, to ensure the canopy sits level with the ground. I will likely add a flange around the canopy's perimeter to both tie it into the headrest/fairing behind the driver's head and make it easier to secure to the body shell.

I pretty much ruined the hoop style fairing I was thinking of using, but it was a bit too narrow (or the driver's head was a bit too wide) and to widen it would've meant widening the original Avanti hood bulge, so the fairing was probably doomed from the start:

It will be sanded to butt up to the back edge of the canopy, and the trailing edges will retain the Avanti's C-pillar trailing edge shapes, so it will end up working out just fine.

I also added some details to the turbine engine, particularly the fuel metering device, starter motor, and whatever else some of these bits and parts are. I used some random, exquisitely molded parts from an unknown Japanese-made race car, as the MPC engine was lacking detail and definition. Things like hood or door hinges worked perfectly for making flanges, and other unrecognized bits simply added detail and made parts stand out against one another. I will be adding some wiring and fuel and lubrication lines later on, but looking at reference pics of the real engine gave me a good idea of what needed to be added:

I remembered I had some two-piece hard plastic tires from the AMT Piranha dragster kit, so I measured them and found they were almost the exact diameter I needed for the front tires. I glued the halves together and will bore out the centers to a larger diameter, making the front tires the same sidewall height as the rear tires:

[Casey]

Wheels and tires are a bit over half done, but the rear tires need to be sanded a bit smoother, the rear wheels need some type of center/hub, the front tires need primer and paint, and I need to (hopefully) get some custom size Moon discs from Parts by Parks for both sides of all four wheels:

[Casey]

I made a bit more progress and worked on the rear wheels, which were just hollow hoops. I had some 1/20 scale Lindberg Chevy S-10 custom wheels sitting nearby, and sure enough, they were really close to the hoop diameter, so I turned them down slightly until they fit snugly inside the hoops, narrowed them, and test fit them:

They still need to to have the chrome plating removed and hubs finalized, but once I get some Moon discs I can set the final thickness/depth, then glue the hoops to the wheel centers. I need to find some circa-'63 disc brakes so I can't say what the backside of the wheels will look like yet, but the parachute(s) will do most of the stopping anyway.

I also started making the chassis, using brass tubing for strength. The chassis will be handled often and many parts test fit with it, so styrene tubing just wasn't a good choice from a durability and strength standpoint. The chassis will be of the small, semi-professional shop-built variety, and won't be too complex, but will hopefully be believable when finished. l've got the main rails, two crossmembers, and one x-brace in place so far:

I set the driver and engine in place to make sure the frame width was going to work, and it looks like it will.

I worked on the driver and seat next, as the driver needed his hips and thighs thinned down to allow him to seat fully. Once he was thinned enough and fully seated, it was clear the 1/24 scale seat was out of scale compared to the driver, so I started making the seat smaller and more proportionate. The sides of the seat were really thick and didn't look very realistic, so I thinned the left side, both inside and out, until the seat was more realistic and its lip was lower:

The driver looked like he was being swallowed by the seat due to the high sides, and I still need to shorten the front edge of the seat as it extends almost to the driver's knee pits, but he fits the seat much better now:

[Chuck Most]

As of today, this horse may well be back in the race,,,,

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's a thought...

[Tom Geiger]

Just saw this thread for the first time tonight... and I have this puppy just sitting around doing nuthin'! This was started when AMT reissued the Studebaker maybe 20 something years ago. It was painted, red came out poorly so it got stripped and dumped in the box. There are some early builders errors I believe I can fix today.

[Danno]

Just saw this thread for the first time tonight... and I have this puppy just sitting around doing nuthin'! This was started when AMT reissued the Studebaker maybe 20 something years ago. It was painted, red came out poorly so it got stripped and dumped in the box. There are some early builders errors I believe I can fix today.

Crank it up, Tom!

I remember this project of yours from years ago ... always thought it was a killer concept and was eager to see it finished. Still am.

Go fer it!!

Let's git'er done!

[Casey]

As of today, this horse may well be back in the race,,,,

That's ambitious. You've got moxie, kid!

[Chuck Most]

Phase two has begun. I think.

Maybe...

[Tom Geiger]

Crank it up, Tom!

I remember this project of yours from years ago ... always thought it was a killer concept and was eager to see it finished. Still am.

Go fer it!!

Let's git'er done!

Thanks Dan! This was my very first ambitious conversion as an adult. I can remember like yesterday, having both of those new kits on my bench and thinking "now or never" as I cut into them! And that was before I had a hoard so the few kits I had were dear to me back then. In doing that conversion to fit onto the Mercedes chassis, the body had to be shortened. Only once I went to install it on the chassis, I discovered that the one side was longer than the other. So part of the work will have to be shortening the right side to match by taking out a micron or two of plastic and gluing the seam back together. The doors really didn't fit either, but I now see the solution of splitting them back apart and adding a shim of plastic . I hadn't accounted that the Mercedes greenhouse was narrower than the Stude's .

I have been working on getting old projects to the display case this year so this one has been on my mind lately. So it needs to get done.

[Casey]

Main frame crossmembers squared and two smaller engine mount crossmembers added:

The bellypan frame, and body look like they'll all work together:

Ride height and wheel/tire clearance looks good, too:

[jeffs396]

Tom, that gullwing Stude is gonna be waaay cool!

Chuck, your builds are NEVER dull, can't wait to see what you're up to

Great chassis work going on with your racer Casey, certainly unique

I've procured a Danbury '37 Studebaker pickup to go along with the '51 gasser, hopefully I can get something done on them...